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Thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, the legal profession as a whole is currently attempting to navigate uncharted waters.
To protect their employees from contracting the potentially fatal illness, law firms have closed their doors and urged their employees to do all of their work remotely. Law schools have canceled on-campus classes in favor of virtual learning, and some have even canceled their upcoming commencements in an effort to flatten the curve and stop the spread. Throw grade school and high school closures into the mix, and we now have all manner of legal professionals trying to get their own work done while teaching and parenting their children at the same time.
Did we mention the economic turmoil the coronsvirus has caused? The legal profession has already been through tough economic times, and while many made it out by the skin of their teeth, others did not. In a professional environment where mental health is finally having its moment, layoffs, furloughs, delayed start dates, and pulled offers are now worries once more.
We’re living in scary times. There’s a very real human toll here, and people are being stretched incredibly thin. Above the Law’s own founder, David Lat, has fallen ill with this virus and is currently on a ventilator. This has hit home for us, and we know it’s hit home for you too. We must find compassion and courage amid COVID-19.
As the most popular legal website in the country, we’d like to share this platform with members of the American legal community. We want to know how you’re coping with the coronavirus. Please reach out to us. Your stories need to be heard. You can email us, text us at (646) 820-8477, or tweet us @atlblog. We will share your stories anonymously. You may be able to help a law student or lawyer who needs to know that someone else is going through the same thing — and surviving.
Although we have to be apart to stop the coronavirus in its tracks, the only way we’re going to get through this is together.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.